Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Suzanne Robertson was born in Perth, Ontario.
She is a writer and photographer living in Toronto where she also works at the
Children’s Aid Society. Her first collection of poetry Paramita, Little Black was
published by Guernica Editions in 2011. It has recently been nominated for the
Gerald Lampert Award, for best first book of poetry in Canada.

Lindsay Smail is a Creative Director who plies her trade in
the distinctly unpoetic world of provincial politics. She holds an M.A. in
English Literature from UofT and has studied with Ken Babstock at the Summer
Writing School. A frequent reader at the Plasticene Poetry series, Lindsay has
finally admitted she wants to be published and is busy editing her work with an
eye to submission.

Born and
raised in Bermuda to a Bermudian father and Jamaican mother, for Dane Swan,
visiting family involved trips to small villages in Jamaica like Yallas and
Land’s End, or to New York communities like Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The
great story-tellers he heard in these communities were his only literary
professors. At 17, Dane moved to Canada with his brother to further their
education. Dane’s poetry can be found on CD, 12”Vinyl, MP3, in anthologies and
in poetry reviews. Bending the Continuum is his first full-length collection of
poetry in print.

Lisa Young is a Toronto poet and experimental fiction writer. Her first poetry collection, When the Earth, was published by Quattro Books in the Fall of 2011. Her work has appeared in Jones Av., Misunderstandings Magazine, Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, dead g(end)er and Rampike. She is a former fiction editor and senior poetry editor for Existere: Journal of Arts and Literature. Lisa is part of the Quattro Presents WordStage Reading Series Team and co-hosts every other month.

And the emcees ...

Michelle Alfanois a co-organizer of the (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends Reading Series and a Co-Editor withDescant. Her novella Made Up of Arias (Blaurock Press) won the 2010 Bressani Prize for Short Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novellaMade Up Of Ariasis based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in major literary publications. She was featured in a forthcoming documentary on the passengers, and the children of the passengers, of the Saturnia that was recently featured on OMNI-TV. She is currently at work at a new novel entitledVita’s Prospects.

Giovanna Riccio was born in Calabria and immigrated to Canada as a child. Her poems have appeared in newspapers, magazines, journals and anthologies.Her work has been translated into Romanian and a number of her poems are being translated into Italian for an upcoming anthology to be published in Italy. She is the author ofVittorio (Lyricalmyrical Press) and Strong Bread (Quattro Books).

About Us

The (Not So) Nice Italian Girls & Friends were formed in 2009 to promote the work of Italo-Canadian writers and to create a dialogue with writers of all backgrounds, orientations and ethnicities. A Lit Chick (Michelle Alfano) is a co-founder of the series.

Michelle Alfano

Until 2015, Michelle Alfano (also known as A Lit Chick) served as an Associate Editor with the literary quarterly Descant. She is the co-organizer of the Love Poetry Festival honouring Milton Acorn and Gwen MacEwen.

Her personal memoir The Unfinished Dollhouse (Cormorant Books, 2017) was selected as one of The Globe 100 Best Books of the Year in 2017.

Her novella, Made Up Of Arias, was the 2010 winner of the Bressani Award for Short Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which the novella was based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology.

Her fiction and non-fiction work has been widely published in Canada in major literary publications including Descant, Prairie Fire, The Capilano Review, The Antigonish Review, Event, A Room of One’s Own and in six anthologies published respectively by: Prentice Hall, Quarry Press, Italian Canadiana, Guernica Editions, Red Deer Press and Legas Publishing.

She is currently at work on a novel entitled Destiny, think of me while you sleep.